Steam game gets surprising patch after fan says women broke immersion

An unusual compromise for the automobile sim that kept getting gender complaints from fans

Half the point of experiencing video games is to get to see the world through totally new eyes, and that means — as shocking as it might sound — occasionally playing as women. Most games that actually include female protagonists offer them as an option, however. And so, any time that a video game defaults to a female lead, you'll tend to see at least some people grousing about being 'forced' to be a woman. What about men??

Honcho, the latest game by Minkswork, the makers of 2018 indie darling Jalopy, plops players in the shoes of a Japanese woman trying to build an empire of vending machines. In it, players purchase real estate and deliver packages through a compact Japanese vehicle known as the Kei truck. Players can customize these cutesy industrial trucks as they explore a procedurally-generated Showa-era Japan, and are expected to mitigate any wear and tear as they go along. The focus on cars resembles developer Minkswork's previous work, Jalopy, where users had to maintain a dilapidated old car.

But Jalopy had a male protagonist. Honcho does not. As Minksworks developer Greg Pryjmachuk tells Polygon, the gender switch-up kept getting remarked on by some members of the community. The developer has seen complaints in places like YouTube, Discord, and social media site X.

In late 2025, one audacious player was so taken aback by having to play as a woman that he felt the need to make a post on Honcho's Steam forums.

"There's really only one thing that I am hoping for and that's the ability to build a play as a male character if you wanted to," the post reads. "I know I have talked to you on Reddit before, but I'm not a fan of playing a female character. Kind of ruins my immersion honestly."

Months later, in early March 2026, the ongoing complaints evidently got to Pryjmachuk. The developer responded to the old thread with an update on the request. And I'm willing to bet you're never going to guess what Minksworks said next.

"I've added the ability to play as Mr Tofu who is a sentient block of Tofu which hides the players body with option to also hide hands," the developer's account replied.

The developer continued: "This game is funded by hopes and dreams, so it's unlikely I'll have the breathing room to add a fully rigged male character with their own unlockable outfits and story beats. Hopefully the above is a reasonable compromise."

Speaking to Polygon via email, Pryjmachuk says that the post isn't a joke. Players can actually be a sentient block of Tofu in Honcho now, and it looks like this:

"While I may not have any interest in self-inserting in the games I play, who am I to dictate how someone else enjoys their media?" Pryjmachuk says.

The developer also noted that Honcho has yet to secure a publisher to fund the project, so slapping a Tofu on it felt like a practical choice. It also appears to be a roundabout reference to a notorious incident back in 2014, when Ubisoft explained that it did not include women in Assassin's Creed at the time because it would double asset production requirements.

"I can't really be spending months animating, rigging, and testing a whole new character model. Tofu fitted within these constraints and was chosen because I'm a big fan of Resident Evil 2."

Since the Tofu bombshell entered the villa, the Steam thread had to be locked down to prevent people from dogpiling on the player who asked for a male protagonist. Pryjmachuk says that he didn't implement the update with malice, and that the fan responded jovially to the news.

"I thought the post would be a funny insight into the corners indie devs need to take to accommodate player expectations," Pryjmachuk says.